The opposite of progress...

...is back-peddling!
Those categorical denials seem to be crumbling quickly now.

"Men come to me occasionally, not very often, and shake me by the hand and say, 'I am glad to shake hands with a good man.' I never feel so 'cheap' as when that happens, and I have always been thankful that they did not know me so well as I know myself. It is along that line that I would like to talk to you for a few minutes.
"What is a good man? That has been a big problem with me. I have had a good deal of business dealings with men who claimed to be good men. They said they were good, and they told me how good they were; and when they got through with me, I did not have anything left.
"Whenever a man comes to me now and tells me how honest he is, how good he is, I am not going to do business with him." ~J Golden Kimball

So, whenever a politician comes forward and tells me how honest they are, I am not going to believe them.

Remember, "I am not a crook," and "I did not have sex with that woman."

Now we can add all those Blago quotes of ending pay to play in Illinois and inviting the feds to tape his converstations.

And we get a little suspicious of our new president who promised us in the debates that things would be different in Washington with him in the White House.

So, the latest about "Senate Candidate 1." Valerie Jarrett seems to be holding firm as the person they are talking about. And maybe Axelrod will have to do a retraction of his retraction, because Obama told the press yesterday, "I've asked my team to gather the facts of any contacts with the governor's office about this vacant seat, so that we can share them with you over the next few days."

Oops! There goes the categorical denial he made on Tuesday.

About "Candidate 5" aka Jesse Jackson Jr. It turns out that on Halloween Jackson's peeps were holding a fundraiser for Blago in Schaumburg. And another one in Elmhurst last Saturday. And Jesse's own brother was right next to Blago gladhanding the contributors.

These associates of Jackson have names and they are talking. Here's the fine reporting by three reporters at the Chicago Tribune on the matter:
"Blagojevich made an appearance at an Oct. 31 luncheon meeting at the India House restaurant in Schaumburg sponsored by Oak Brook businessman Raghuveer Nayak, a major Blagojevich supporter who also has fundraising and business ties to the Jackson family, according to several attendees and public records.

"Two businessmen who attended the meeting and spoke to the Tribune on the condition of anonymity said that Nayak and Blagojevich aide Rajinder Bedi privately told many of the more than two dozen attendees the fundraising effort was aimed at supporting Jackson's bid for the Senate.

"Among the attendees was a Blagojevich fundraiser already under scrutiny by federal investigators, Joliet pharmacist Harish Bhatt.

"That meeting led to a Blagojevich fundraiser Saturday in Elmhurst, co-sponsored by Nayak and attended by Jesse Jackson Jr.'s brother, Jonathan, as well as Blagojevich, according to several people who were there. Nayak and Jonathan Jackson go back years and the two even went into business together years ago as part of a land purchase on the South Side." (End of Tribune quote)

So, there goes JJJs categorical denial.

The Tribune brings up another interesting point. John Kass asks the question, "Where is Rahm Emmanuel?" He's Obama's Chief of Staff, a deep Chicago politician. And he was nowhere to be found when his boss held the press conference yesterday.

At least in Chicago the honeymoon with the press is over for Obama. What do you expect when the gov tries to get people fired at the Tribune?